1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for making different holes suitable for different users in stoma wafers (including wafers for ureters and digestive tracts).
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many people having their recta cut off due to various diseases and using stomata (artificial anuses). A stoma wafer has an external appearance seen in FIG. 6, a rear surface of which comprises an adhesive surface. A user or a nursing person bores a hole suitable for the user in the stoma wafer, and the resultant stoma wafer is pasted on the user""s body for practical use. A pair of scissors capable of cutting a curvilinear opening have heretofore been used to make a hole in a stoma wafer. A conventional stoma wafer is provided in advance with a small hole (refer to FIG. 2) in the center thereof, into which a pair of scissors are inserted to cut off unnecessary portions of a hole-surrounding region so that a hole of a required size or shape is made.
A stoma wafer is mostly of the type which is provided with grooves concentric with a hole made therein in advance. When the stoma wafer is cut along any one of the grooves, a generally circular larger hole is obtained. However, different users require holes of different sizes or shapes, so that a hole to be newly obtained has to be formed to a substantially elliptic shape by cutting off the hole-surrounding portions of the stoma wafer. Since a margin to be additionally cut is as narrow as around 1-2 mm, the concentric grooves prevent a cutting operation from being carried out well, and a zigzag portion on which filth is deposited is necessarily formed on an inner edge of the resultant hole.
Some propositions have been made so as to solve these problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,287 discloses a stoma wafer boring apparatus comprising an annular cutting edge-carrying lever handle as a tool for making a circular hole accurately instead of scissors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,042 discloses a stoma wafer boring apparatus for forming a non-circular opening having a diagonal inner circumferential edge, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,574 discloses a stoma wafer boring apparatus provided with a gauge for regulating the position of an annular cutter in accordance with a diameter of a hole to be made.
However, it is still uneasy for a user himself to bore a non-circular (substantially elliptic ) hole in a stoma wafer. Above all, it has been difficult to accurately measure a width of a margin to be cut which is as small as around 1-2 mm, and bore a desired non-circular hole in a stoma wafer. Under the circumstances, an apparatus for boring stoma wafers which enables a user himself to easily make a non-circular (substantially elliptic) hole having a beautiful inner edge has been discussed.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for boring stoma wafers comprising a base on which a stoma wafer is placed, a cutter for boring a circular hole in the stoma wafer placed on the base, and a guide rod for restricting a vertical movement of the cutter, the base comprising an upper base member on which the stoma wafer is placed so that the. stoma wafer can be temporarily fixed thereon, and a lower base member supporting the upper base member so that the upper base member can be moved freely, the stoma wafer in which a circular hole has been bored by the cutter being slid laterally with the upper base member, the stoma wafer being then subjected in the slid position to a circular hole boring operation of the cutter again at the portion thereof which is staggered from the center of the initially formed circular hole, whereby a non-circular hole comprising not less than two staggered circular holes can be bored in the stoma wafer.
The present invention can be roughly divided into two types by the construction of the guide rod. A first type apparatus is formed by providing an elongated hole in an upper base member so that the hole extends in the moving direction of the upper base member, setting up a guide rod, which can be inserted through a hole provided in a stoma wafer, through the elongated hole from the lower base member, and providing a cutter so that the cutter moves down along the guide rod. To be exact, there are (1) a structure formed by fitting a cutter around a guide. rod, and pressing down the cutter by a knob adapted. to be moved down as the knob is screwed on the guide rod, (2) a structure having a cutter adapted to be moved down as the cutter is meshed with a guide rod, and (3) a structure formed by fitting a cutter around a guide rod, providing a spring, which is adapted to urge the cutter downward, between a cover put on the guide rod and the cutter, setting up a support base on a lower base member through an elongated hole of an upper base member, fixing a horizontally pivotable support handle to the support base, and providing the cutter with a circumferential groove adapted to enable the cutter to be lifted with a free end portion of the support handle inserted into the circumferential groove thereof, wherein the spring-urged cutter is pressed down by turning the support handle in the condition in which the support handle lifts the cutter with the free end portion of the former inserted into the circumferential groove of the latter to thereby make the free end portion escape from the groove.
The cutter is provided with a circular edge of a predetermined diameter extending around the guide rod. The stoma wafer is placed in a temporarily fixed state on the upper base member with the guide rod inserted therethrough, and the cutter is lowered along the guide rod to bore a circular hole concentric with the guide rod in the stoma wafer with the circular edge. The upper base member is then slid with the stoma wafer, and the cutter is lowered again to cut off an inner edge portion of the already-bored hole to form a substantially elliptic hole (non-circular hole comprising a combination of two staggered circular holes). The upper or lower base member is provided with a scale which permits an amount of relative movement of the two base members to be visually ascertained. In order to prevent the stoma wafer from being displaced, a clip for temporarily fixing the stoma wafer on the upper base member is provided thereon, or a recess for a separately formed clip, by which the stoma wafer is temporarily fixed to the upper base member, is provided in the upper base member. An upper base member movable in one direction meets the purpose satisfactorily in general. Accordingly, side edge guides extending in the direction of movement of the upper base member are provided on a lower base member so as to move the upper base member in one direction accurately.
In all of the above-described apparatuses for boring stoma wafers, a guide rod set up on a base is used as a vertical track, and accurate vertical movements of the cutter are attained. Other means capable of lowering the cutter accurately onto an upper base member may be used. Another apparatus for boring stoma wafers has also been developed which is formed by providing a lever and a rod-carrying cam via shafts on a frame set up on a lower base member so that the frame does not hinder a movement of the upper base member, and inserting through the frame a guide rod which operatively connects a cutter, which is provided between the upper base member and frame, and lever to each other to thereby form a means for urging the cutter upward, a circumferential edge portion of the cam turned by the rod turning down the lever to lower the guide rod with the cutter lowering toward the upper base member in accordance with this movement of the guide rod. Instead of providing the cutter with a means for urging the cutter upward, a means for urging the lever in the standing direction thereof may be provided on the lever.
In this apparatus for boring stoma wafers, the cutter can be lowered onto the upper base member accurately along the guide rod passed through the frame. This enables any projecting object to be eliminated from the upper surface of the base except a positioning projection of the stoma wafer. Therefore, the stoma wafer can be placed on the base easily, and the cutter and the circular edge thereof can be replaced easily. The guide rod is joined completely to the cutter but the direction in which the guide rod is moved up and down and the direction in which the lever is turned do not completely agree with each other. Therefore, regarding the lever, (1) a portion at which the guide rod and lever are joined to each other is set slidable in the longitudinal direction of the lever, or (2) an upper end of the guide rod is merely engaged with a lower surface of the lever. The urging means is provided on the cutter or lever with the function of moving back to an upper space the cutter which has just been subjected to a boring operation, and this means is formed by providing a spring between the frame and cutter or lever. When the urging means is provided on the cutter, the relation between the guide rod and lever may be either of (1) and (2) above. When the urging means is provided on the lever, the lever stands up to draw up the cutter via the guide rod, so that the relation (1) alone between the guide rod and lever can be adopted.